University’s Name Review Board items to former president’s ‘ prejudiced opinions,’ ‘ separation of governmental offices ‘
Woodrow Wilson’s title will be removed from a scholarship program at Johns Hopkins University, where it will be re-used on a residence hall entranceway.
The University’s Committee to Establish Principles on Naming and Name Review Board, which was established in 2020, is facing criticism both on and off school.
The committee came to the decision on Oct. 24 after a month long debate, according to the Hub, Johns Hopkins ‘ news site.
The Woodrow Wilson Research Fellowship, which will now be known as the University Undergraduate Research Fellowship, should remain completely removed from the recommendation, according to it.
The panel also recommended that Wilson’s name be displayed on the Alumni Memorial House I Wilson House doorway, but that additional information should be provided.
” Both comments have been approved by the school’s board of trustees”, the Hub information.
This week, the university’s media relations office received two emails asking when the changes would be made and how the Wilson House entryway would be” contextually [ed ]ed ]ed,” as the committee had suggested.
The committee based its decision, in element, on what it considered to be Wilson’s negative impact on Black Americans.
According to the Hub, these included his” separation of governmental offices in Washington, D. C.”, “racist opinions and works,” and “tenure as chairman of Princeton University” during which he ensured the study body remained white and male.
In an email to The College Fix last year, the College Republicans team at Johns Hopkins referred to the title shift as” a meaningless work.”
The declaration read,” Attempts to name a research scholarship or to discredit our creator serve only to power the toxic, grievance-perpetuating cancel culture mindset,” a mindset that serves only to fund the arrogant egos of so-called” cultural justice warriors.”
” They attain nothing but remove history, relitigate disputes, and strengthen our divisions”, the team stated. ” America’s story has never been great, but it has always strived to be”.
The University does spend that time and effort in improving the material well-being of its students, it stated.” Rather of wasting time and energy on uninteresting metaphorical gestures, the University should spend that time and effort in.”
Further: Boston U. to eliminate Myles Standish’s title from dorm
The College Republicans even mentioned that the University has as condemned the name of its own leader John Hopkins, a fervent Quaker, on a weak and dubious’record’ that he was a slave owner. Since the Black Lives Matter “riots,” the University has also disgraced his own name.
This was referring to a 2020 article in which Martha Jones, professor of history at Johns Hopkins, told The New York Times the university’s founder owned slaves. However, the student Republicans’ group pointed The Fix to a research study  , and other documentation that refutes Jones ‘ assertions.
The decision to remove Wilson’s name was also criticized by an outsider historian at Johns Hopkins.
Mary Grabar, a historical scholar and author of” Debunking The 1619 Project”, called the Name Review Board” Orwellian” and said it” should be dissolved” in an email to The Fix.
” I disagree with the Name Review Board’s characterization of Woodrow Wilson’s ‘ accomplishments’… The League of Nations would have imperiled American sovereignty. According to Grabar, the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Trade Commission” confessed too much power to the federal government.”
She claimed that the AMR I Wilson House entry’s” contextualization” is problematic and biased in favor of a progressive agenda. It insults students by imposing a committee statement on them, stating whether or not a namesake is good or bad.
Grabar herself has a negative opinion of President Wilson, telling The Fix she believes he was” a bad president because of his defiance of the Constitution, promotion of the income tax, growth of government, eugenics, and rule by the expert class. I also disagree with his policy of instituting segregation”.
However,” I also acknowledge that Wilson, as an influential two-term president, is part of our national identity. You ca n’t change a nation’s identity as much as you can a person’s identity, according to Grabar.
” Wilson’s name should stay”, she said.
The university removed Caroline Donovan from a professorship program last year because of her connection to slavery.
Currently, its Name Review Board is considering removing two other historical figures ‘ names from campus: a monument to Sidney Lanier and a professorship named after Basil Gildersleeve, the university’s first appointed faculty member.
In 2020, Princeton University also dropped Woodrow Wilson’s name from a public policy school and student residence, The Fix reported at the time. The reasons university leaders gave included the former president ‘s ,” segregationist policies” and “racism”.
MORE: U. Texas to remove Jefferson Davis, Woodrow Wilson statues
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